


Another Day Of Work

by rumbellesecrets



Series: A Tale of True Love [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Dark Castle, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-09-14 13:19:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9183388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rumbellesecrets/pseuds/rumbellesecrets
Summary: Belle's job as the caretaker of the Dark Castle has challenges no one else has ever faced.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [glindathegood](https://archiveofourown.org/users/glindathegood/gifts).



Belle felt the snap of magic as she crossed the threshold into the main hall of the castle. Immediately she tensed, expecting anything from armors battling by themselves, to an ambush made by Rumplestiltskin’s enemies,  or one of her master’s artifacts that had struggled out of the Dark One’s contention spells and would run free until he fixed it.

It was more shocking yet.

A dizzying spell almost knocked her to her feet, though she rebelled against falling down. The thought of crashing into the roof - the roof laying down at her feet! - or speeding upward against the floor made her whimper and close her eyes tight, waiting for any of the furniture above her to be released from the strange spell that had fixed them upside down and crash down on top of her.

“Rumple!” she tried to scream, but her voice was caught in her throat. She coughed a few times, gripping her broom in one hand and the bucket of soapy water in the other, the two last bits of sanity in her world. “Rumplestiltskin!”

No need to call him by his true name twice more.

A cloud of magic appeared a few feet before her in response. When it dissipated, it left her with a smirking man. “Yes, dearie?” he asked, lifting his hands in the air and twirling his fingers in delight.

Of course the odious man was aware that he’d unnerved her.

His cocked eyebrow was the last straw.

Regardless of her surroundings, Belle lifted her broom and poked him in the middle of the chest with the end of the stick. “ _Why_?!”

Rumplestiltskin now had both eyebrows high in his forehead, staring at her. She had seen swords and arrows pointed at him at such close range, and he hadn’t looked half as wary as he did now.

But in another second he returned to the manner of the haughty master of the Dark Castle. With one finger, he drew the broom away. “As I remember, maids don’t get to complain about the layout of the house.”

Belle lowered her hand, but not her gaze. “Maids don’t have wings to fly up to do their job,” she retorted without missing a beat, and then rolled her eyes at his interested expression. “And I don’t want to have them either!”

He threw a hand into the air, dismissing either the fanciful notion or her annoyance.

Probably both.

Taking a deep breath, Belle swept her arm - broom and all - around the room. She didn’t glance away from him, of course, afraid that paying too much attention to the curtains that fell heavily upwards and the magical treasures that didn’t drop down despite being on top (under?) their pedestals without any harnessing whatsoever.

It made her stomach twist just to think of what power it would take, to circumvent nature like this.

And yet Rumplestiltskin kept grinning, feeling no strain whatsoever.

“You can’t upbraid me one day for not dusting this place one day, and then render it an impossible mission the next!”

Her master twittered. “And yet, I did!” he said, making one of his low bows that had no place between the owner of a castle and his servant. But then he raised his head, blackened teeth showing in true amusement. “Or did I?”

Belle licked her lips, trying to divine his meaning. He wasn’t cruel, but he was playful; sometimes that meant little jokes played at her expense. 

“I’m not to wash the floors and clean the table,” she said slowly, taking heart when his eyes warmed a little. He did like it when she used her brain, claimed her cleverness was a good reason to allow her into his company even after her chores were done. If he’d put the usual victims of her duster out of reach, then that meant… that meant… “The chandelier!” she cried out, a little chastised that it had taken her so long to understand. “I can reach it now!”

He chuckled at her enthusiasm, but clapped politely enough. “You can’t complain that the ceiling is a gathering of spiders,” he said, mimicking her earlier tone, “and then fuss so much over this chance to clean them out.”

“I just didn’t expect this,” she murmured, remembering to thank her lucky stars that she’d stepped even this little into the room without brushing her bare ankles against a web. Then Rumplestiltskin wouldn’t have come at the sound of his name, but to investigate why his maid was shrieking like a wild thing. “But I’m sorry for misunderstanding.”

Rumplestiltskin shrugged off the apology as if it were of no concern. “Sorry won’t get this room cleaned faster,” he commented airily, waving Belle toward the old chandelier and walking around her when she did come closer to inspect it.

She took in the hundreds of palm-sized glass panels that composed the great chandelier. It’d catch the light of the strategically situated candles, and then spread it further and further until the whole room was alight. A pity this was no dance floor. It would be glorious to be swept into someone’s arms under so much light!

Belle caught herself in a silly smile, which her master did her the mercy of not bringing up, and hastily buried down her daydreams. She was the help, not a pampered guest to a ball. Instead of wearing out the sole of her slippers, she would work her nails to the quick.

“It’ll take me hours,” she sighed. “It didn’t look this impressive from down-” she frowned, remembering the room as it was now “- _up_ there.”

Rumplestiltskin giggled. “Well, now you know better than to judge something you haven’t seen up close!”

Belle glanced at him, half-expecting him to change the subject or disappear altogether. But Rumplestiltskin did neither, his eyes still amused at his quip. He really didn’t see how his words applied to her and him. How did a smart man truly believe there was nothing to discover about him just because she had lived under the same roof for so long?

“Worry not,” Belle said softly. “ _That_ I knew already.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is welcome!


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